NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks tumbled early Monday, with the Dow losing more than two percent amid worries over global growth in light of inflation and the latest Covid-19 wave.

About an hour into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.2 percent, or around 750 points, at 33,938.21.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent to 4,251.21, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.4 percent to 14,225.30.

Wall Street drops over 1% as virus surge sparks recovery worries

Markets began the day fixated on the latest drop in the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, which is seen as indicative of worries that economic growth will be weaker than expected worldwide.

The "fear factor is gripping the market," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital. "The good news of earnings is being cast to the sideline."

Although last week's earnings largely topped expectations, investors have focused on the threat from higher consumer prices, as well as the Delta variant of Covid-19, which has prompted some countries in Asia and Europe to impose business restrictions and resulted in another uptick in US infections.

Travel-related stocks were under pressure amid the latest Covid-19 trends, with Carnival down seven percent, United Airlines 6.3 percent and Marriott International 5.1 percent.

Cloud software company Five9 jumped 4.5 percent after agreeing to be acquired by Zoom Video for $14.7 billion in stock. Zoom dropped 3.8 percent.

Zoom to buy cloud-based call center operator Five9 in $15bn deal

This week's calendar includes several key reports on the US housing market, as well as earnings from IBM, Netflix and Johnson & Johnson.